Tuesday, February 28, 2006
is god fake?
there was a picketer on sunday morning at imago dei community. he held a sign that said "god is fake" adorned with smiley faces.he called himself and atheievangelist and wanted to encourage people to doubt the existence of god and to doubt their faith.
my friend asked him if people had been nice to him and he replied, "yes! this is the nicest place i've picketed!"
i guess he usually pickets the mega-churches. the fundamentalist, evangelical places with thousands of people. he said they usually call him names and shout and argue.
yesterday people were engaging him in conversation, asking him about what his message was and letting him speak his mind.
inside the building that same morning, the pastor spoke about the validity of questioning and doubting and asking "why." he's been reading through romans and is currently talking about romans chapter 8.
a family came up and shared their story of how their oldest son died in iraq. how they are a wreck and question "why" every day. how one of the only things that carried them through is the knowledge that christ understands what it is like to suffer and that god understands what it is like to have a son die . . . and the hope of resurrection that christ followers cling to.
and rick said our questions may never be answered. we might scream at god, "why the hell did this happen to me?! am i supposed to learn something from this? because this is a really cruel way to teach me a lesson?" (does god really even work that way?)
and s/he may never answer.
the real question is, i suppose, is god enough? is s/he going to be enough for you in the end?
god never promised that being a christ follower would be easy. in fact, s/he promised it would be rough. promised persecution, hardship and trouble.
so why do people choose to follow and believe anyway?
and why do others lie (sometimes on tv!) and say, "if you follow christ, you will be blessed with a nice house and money, etc?"
is the hope in something we cannot see and faith in something that cannot be fully proven really enough?
is god fake?
say it don't spray it 11:18 AM
11 i heard that
Friday, February 24, 2006
i'm so tired
of working 8-5 . . .there is more to life than this, but i have been to busy to really experience it . . .
graduation cannot come soon enough!!!
*plus, i am getting office lady butt. (ew)
say it don't spray it 4:02 PM
7 i heard that
Wednesday, February 22, 2006
sorry
i haven't posted in a while . . . i've been feeling sort of "under the weather" lately . . . something is going around the office and it's been knocking people flat. i am working on fighting it off currently.thanks for all of your additions to the conversation regarding what i will call "the marriage issue." i am very proud of how all of you have been able to voice your ideas in a loving and non-reactive way. thanks for being civil and polite in all of this. you have all given me a lot to think about for sure and i hope you have been able to really listen to others on this issue and give their ideas some time to roll around in your brains as well. it is only through collective dialogue that we can really truly understand and appreciate each other.
i am so glad we aren't all little robots walking around with exactly the same thoughts in our heads. that would be so boring.
well, i'm off to make some more tea and suffer through the rest of the work
day . . . bleehhhhhh.
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p.s. yesterday was our one year and 6 month anniversary of being married. i have loved every month of it! this man of mine just keeps getting better and better! i really am a lucky girl.
say it don't spray it 10:00 AM
11 i heard that
Friday, February 17, 2006
lame-o friday post (it's a cut and paste, but with a twist at the end!)
You know you're a 90's kid if...You've ever ended a sentence with the word "PSYCHE!"
You can sing the rap to "The Fresh Prince Of Bel Air"
You know that "WOAH" comes from Joey from "Blossom" and that "How Rude!" comes from Stephanie from "Full House"
You remember when it was actually worth getting up earlyon a Saturday to watch cartoons.
You got super excited when it was Oregon Trail day in computer class at school.
You remember reading "Goosebumps"
You know the profound meaning of "Wax on, wax off"
You took plastic cartoon lunch boxes to school.
You remember the craze then the banning of slap bracelets and slam books.
You still get the urge to say "NOT" after (almost) every sentence...Not...
You knew that Kimberly, the pink ranger, and Tommy, the green Ranger were meant to be together.
You remember "I've fallen and I can't get up"
You remember going to the skating rink before there were inline skates
You ever got injured on a Slip 'n' SlideYou wore socks over leggings scrunched down
"Miss Mary Mack, Mack, Mack, all dressed in black, black, black, with silver buttons, buttons, buttons, all down her back, back, back" SHE ASKED HER MOTHER MOTHER MOTHER FOR FIFTY CENTS CENTS CENTS TO SEE THE ELEPHANTS ELEPHANTS ELEPHANTS JUMP OVER THE FENCE FENCE FENCE"He jumped so high high high he touched the sky sky sky and he didnt come back back back til the forth of july july july he jumped so low low low he stubbed his toe toe toe and thats the end end end of the elephants show show show
You remember boom boxes vs. cd players
You knew what it meant to say "Care Bear Stare"
You remember Alf, the little brown alien from Melmac and Vicki the Robot from "Small Wonder"
You remember New Kids on The Block when they were cool
You knew all the characters names and their life stories on "Saved By The Bell"
You played and or collected "Pogs"
You used to pretend to be a MIGHTY MORPHIN Power Ranger and you owned a Skip It
You had at least one GigaPet or Nano and brought it everywhere
You watched the original Care Bears, and Ninja Turtles
Yikes pencils and erasers were the shit.
You remember when the new Beanie Babies were always sold out.
You remember a time before the WB.
You've gotten creeped out by "Are You Afraid of the Dark?"
You thought it would be so cool to be Alex Mack.
You know the Macarena by heart..
" Talk to the hand" ... enough said
You thought Brain would finally take over the world
You always said, "Then why don't you marry it?"
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also, this is genious (imparted to me by my friend ava-- link to her blog in sidebar)
christopher walken for president!!
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lastly, a great conversation is still going on about same-sex marriage on an earlier post of mine . . . feel free to join in but only in the context of love and respect.
peace people. have a good weekend!
say it don't spray it 3:33 PM
6 i heard that
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
my husband made me breakfast in bed today
and my half birthday was yesterday.so . . . embarassing thing number 688 happened to me last week.
i guess i had accidentally hit the hood release lever with my foot upon getting out of the car the night before because when i drove on the freeway to work one morning (one windy morning, i might add) my hood was hovering about five inches or so above where it should normally be.
it was pretty scary to drive the ten or so minutes on the freeway with the wind whipping inside my hood and shoving my car about.
tommy boy kept flashing through my mind and i was trying to make a plan of action for what i would do if the hood were to fly up.
it didn't fly up in the end (phew) and i was sure to secure the hood when i arrived at work. but i felt really silly driving down the freeway with my hood levatating like that. and i felt really sheepish telling my husband about it.
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in other news, after aceing my midterms, i spent the evening with friends making inappropriate valentine cards.
hope your v-day is a happy one! rather than celebrate only romantic love, choose to celebrate love for the following as well:
the earth
all creatures
life
peace
family
chocolate
sunshine
friends
*insert your favorite thing here*
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"Hold your hands out over the earth as over a flame. to all who love her, who open to her the doors of their veins, she gives of her strength, sustaining them with her own measureless tremor of dark life. Touch the earth, love the earth, honor the earth, her plains, her valleys, her hills, and her seas; rest your spirit in her solitary places. For the gifts of life are the earth's and they are given to all and they are the songs of the birds at daybreak, Orion and the Bear, and dawn seen over ocean from the beach."
~Henry Beston
did anyone celebrate nirvana day yesterday? (no, not the band . . . although they rocked too).
{for those of you who asked about nirvana day, i got this definition from a kids turn central website: "Definition: Mahayana Buddhists are one type of Buddhists. Many of them are Japanese. They celebrate February 13 as the anniversary of Buddha's death.
For Buddhists, this is not a sad day, but a time to remember that Buddha moved from one state of being to the next. " there now you know . . . . and knowing is half the battle?
say it don't spray it 10:56 AM
9 i heard that
Thursday, February 09, 2006
my sister flew to oklahomah today . . .
so, this is a great website.and the superbowl made me angry. except for the rolling stones of course. "the seahawks can't get no (do, do dooo) satisfaction (do do dooo) and they try and they try and they try . . . ."
and i had this crazy dream this weekend (after falling asleep at 9pm on a friday night!!) that this homeless guy broke into our apartment in the middle of the night and asked us for spare change and to use our restroom . . . we told him he had to go though because it wasn't cool for him to come in while we were sleeping. and then he stole my credit cards! i was so upset that someone would do that to another human being after we had let him use our bathroom . . . it was weird dream. i woke up and jon told me i had been making strange noises. the next day, we walked out of our apartment and the SAME GUY that was in my dream was sitting on the front steps of our building. i couldn't sleep near the door to our room that weekend. i made jon sleep there in case someone got into our apartment somehow . . . silly me.
monday was glorious! i skipped work and volunteered at the Ronald McDonald House here in portland (where families can stay for free while their kids are in the hospital) with a friend of mine and then we went to the japanese garden and the international rose test garden. it was muddy because it has been raining for the last month and a half or so . . . but it has been sunny all week and i love it!
we ended the day by having HUGE ice cream sundays for dinner . . . but it was soy ice cream and organic bannanas . . . so that's how we justified it.
i have a test tonight in class that i forgot about and haven't had time to study for. it counts at 25% of my written grade too . . . hm.
looking forward to season 1 of punky brewster with my friend m this weekend . . . i'm gonna tie a bandana around my thigh.
sorry i haven't got much to say that is more interesting at the moment . . . got the curious george soundtrack today . . . i heart jack johnson (and ben harper is on there with a new version of "with my own two hands!!" speaking of . . . i preordered the superdeluxversion of his new album "both sides of the gun" today. it comes out next month . . . hooray!) . . .
ok. i'm out.
sorry for the grammar mistakes. i don't care.
say it don't spray it 3:47 PM
6 i heard that
Saturday, February 04, 2006
embarassing things number 657 and 658
first let me start off by telling you that not only is my husband cooking me breakfast right now, but he has also given me one daffodil (my favorite flower) every day since last saturday (for no reason at all). he must love me or something!so last weekend . . . on friday . . . i went out with charlotte, breanna (both of whose blogs you can find in the links on my sidebar) and two other friends. we all graduated from college the same year and pledge lambda chi omega together. it was a fun reunion . . .
on to the embarassing thing.
we started our night of debauchery at this martini bar called the vault in the pearl district. it is very posh and such . . . so i hadn't even had one drink yet and we were all talking around the table sitting on these high bar stools and i turned to say something to charlotte, not knowing the waitress was behind me and WHAM, i knock into her arm with my elbow and cause her to slosh my drink all over charlotte's arm!
"i am so sorry!" i cried. this night was not starting out well . . .
charlotte graciously dabbed her arm with a towell and ended up buying our drinks! what a gal!
later at that same bar, after drink number one, the next embarassing thing happened.
we were all talking and catching up on each other's lives and enjoying the night and i gesture while saying something very witty (yeah, whatever), and knock my (empty, thank god) martini glass over and it breaks! little pieces go all over and i yell,
"i am such an effing klutz!"
quite loudly.
while i am emphasizing that i have only had ONE drink, a complete stranger walks up to me and says,
"can i give you a high five? that was awesome!"
sheepishly, i high five her . . .
the rest of the night, the memory of those incidents brought instant giggles as we spent the evening fending creepy guys off our hot friend . . .
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and without further ado, the picture i promised two weeks ago of the crazy thing i did with my friend:
i got a tattoo!!!!!!!!
say it don't spray it 10:51 AM
23 i heard that
Wednesday, February 01, 2006
10 Reasons Why Gay Marriage is Wrong
1) Being gay is not natural. Real Americans always reject unnatural things like eyeglasses, polyester, and air conditioning.2) Gay marriage will encourage people to be gay, in the same way that hanging around tall people will make you tall.
3) Gay marriage will change the foundation of society; we could never adapt to new social norms. Just like we haven't adapted to cars, the service-sector economy, or longer life spans.
4) Straight marriage has been around a long time and hasn't changed at all; women are still property, blacks still can't marry whites, and divorce is still illegal.
5) Straight marriage would be less meaningful if gay marriage were allowed; the sanctity of Britney Spears' 55-hour just-for-fun marriage would be destroyed.
6) Straight marriages are valid because they produce children. Gay couples, infertile couples, and old people shouldn't be allowed to marry because our orphanages aren't full yet, and the world needs more children.
7) Obviously gay parents will raise gay children, since straight parents only raise straight children.
8) Gay marriage is not supported by religion. In a theocracy like ours, the values of one religion are imposed on the entire country. That's why we have only one religion in America.
9) Children can never succeed without a male and a female role model at home. That's why we as a society expressly forbid single parents to raise children.
10) Legalizing gay marriage will open the door to all kinds of crazy behavior. People may even wish to marry their pets because a dog has legal standing and can sign a marriage contract.
say it don't spray it 9:35 AM
23 i heard that
